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Kolkata.


"Don’t get surprised if next time you travel in Kolkata in a metro, standing with heavy bags somehow holding the suspended hangers and a stranger sitting in front of you in her seat offers her lap for your baggage!"
So back in Kolkata I was earning the second least amount in my batch. And the worst part of all? They didn't even pay me my last month’s stipend! A small suggestion to all my juniors out there -whatever it is never feel ashamed of asking what you really deserve. You always get what you ask for!

 So it is pretty clear that my office experience in Kolkata wasn’t that good at all. But that never stopped me from exploring this great city. Being an Architect the most important thing you need is INSPIRATION. Never miss a chance to get inspired. But there is a fine line between getting inspired from a building and stealing. Well, we’ll come to that later! 
And so I travelled! I travelled every corner of Kolkata. Some places I went with my relatives and to some I just grabbed my camera and my wallet and went out there alone. From the Great Indian Museum to the famous Dakshineshwar temple.From Victoria Memorial to the Howrah bridge .From the writer’s buiding to the mere streets of Kolkata. I travelled as much as I could via every possible means of transport available!  Metro, trams, buses and local trains.








The links below will help you know more about Kolkata’s architectural heritage.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/kolkata-calcutta/sights/architecture
http://www.westbengaltourism.gov.in/web/guest/homestays2
Hit the link below to get a chronological history of architecture in Kolkata-
http://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/1998/evolution-of-calcutta-kolkata

Apart from the architecture and art in Kolkata, although Bengali is recorded as the sweetest language of the world, I found the locals extremely short tempered and not very cooperative. They are always ready to fight and have an argument. The positive side of this is, nobody would compromise with anything. I have seen people almost falling off the auto rickshaws in lucknow so as to adjust two extra passengers on either side of the drivers’ seat. But in Kolkata there are actually two seats available next to the driver’s for the passengers. Even to scratch their back, Kolkatans won’t just do it with a stick or a scale .They have a special equipment meant only for scratching their backs too!!
   
Kolkata is a big family-Where every next person is a dada or a didi. Where the driver wont return the change because it is his right to earn that extra penny and say ‘Didi eto tao ki dite parben na?, (Didi can’t you give even this much extra?)  Where you can fight with anybody , anywhere, anytime of the hour, like you fight with your own dada and didi. There is love, there is care and a lot of disagreements. Don’t get surprised if next time you travel in Kolkata in a metro, standing with heavy bags somehow holding the suspended hangers and a stranger sitting in front of you in her seat offers her lap for your baggage! Would any stranger do that to you in delhi? I saw it happen almost every other day!
So the 5 months of training in Kolkata was a bitter sweet experience for me.

It is a city to which anybody can easily fall in love with!

Up next is how I discovered internet doesn't have it all!There are still scope for ideas that are original.



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